I’m Tired of Dark Sci-Fi Television…So, I’m Ready to Help

There’s a lot of talk out there about how we’re in a “Golden Age” of television. In some respects, that’s true. There is more high-quality television programming being produced now than at any other time that I can recall as an adult. Yet, despite that, I’m largely dissatisfied with most of what I see, even when I think I should like it.

Take GoT, for example. That should have been a show that I would love. Excellent production values. Top shelf casting. High fantasy. That’s historically been exactly my cup of tea. I watched one season of it with a lingering sense of dislike and stopped watching after the first few episodes of Season 2. Why? I hated absolutely every character on screen for one reason or another. Despite everyone’s assurance that some of the characters would become less despicable or at least less one note over time, I wasn’t willing to slog through seasons of hating everyone on screen to get to that point.

In other cases, the tonal quality of the shows gets on my nerves. I’m not someone who shies away from some darkness, as anyone who has read one of my books knows. Bad stuff needs to happen to characters to drive any narrative arc. The bad stuff can be huge or it can be small. What really matters is how well you contextualize and represent that bad stuff on the screen. However, no one lives in a permanent vacuum of despair/awfulness/failure.

This kind of grimdark ethos/aesthetic is so omnipresent on TV these days that you can’t escape it. You can see this on The Blacklist, Arrow, Into the Badlands, virtually every zombie show, Wynona Earp, most police procedurals, Supernatural, medical dramas, and even shows that should know better, like The Flash or the newest entry in the Star Trek franchise. You couldn’t pay me to live in the disaster-magnet Seattle of Grey’s Anatomy. The new Trek is so dark it may as well be called House of Starships. It’s a relentless tide of gray amorality and violence.

(Looking over that list, I’ll admit there’s a heavy leaning toward science fiction and fantasy because that’s what I like to watch. It’s what I like to read and write as well.)

So, faced with that relentless tide, I look back at the shows that I really loved. Things on that list include Firefly, Eureka, Burn Notice, Leverage, White Collar, The Librarians, Castle, Doctor Who, and Stargate SG1. Most of these shows have something in common. They’re dramedies that struck a very specific tonal balance between drama and comedy. They all put forward very serious episodes now and then, but they don’t take themselves too seriously as a rule. They know how to smile or give the audience a wink and nod.

That’s a quality that is getting tougher and tougher to find on television, which means I watch less and less new scripted television these days. By my reckoning, if I want darkness, unhappiness, and moral ambiguity, I can just read a newspaper. Of course, as I write all of this, I’m reminded of the old adage that you shouldn’t complain about things you aren’t willing to work to change. Well, I’m willing to work on this problem. This is an open invitation to anyone out there who wants a story consultant/writer for a sci-fi dramedy. I don’t care if you’re an indie producer, YouTuber, or work in more traditional TV production, I’m ready to do my part. Leave a comment, hit me up on social media, and we’ll talk.